History | History of Jerusalem: Three Faiths, Three Thousand Years
B200 | 25457 | Wahrman

Above class meets with another section of HIST-B 200
Jerusalem is a city like no other on the planet. Its past is
amazingly rich, its present is unprecedentedly contentious, its
future is momentously apocalyptic. It was the place where two of the
most important monotheistic religions were born – Judaism and
Christianity – and it plays a central role in a third, Islam. It is
a city that every new power on the global block – pagan Romans,
Islamic conquerors, Christian crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, Zionists
(and this is only a very partial list) – all wanted to control; and
it is a city that boasts therefore a unique mixture of survivals
from so many different periods side by side. In Jerusalem you would
encounter in a day members of more religious and cultural groups
than during a whole lifetime in most other places. Small wonder that
Jerusalem has the unique privilege of having a psychological
syndrome named after it, because of what it does to (some) newcomers.
This lecture course, taught by a native Jerusalemite historian, will
survey the history of Jerusalem, focusing on key themes in its past
and on the remains they left in its present. By the end of the
course, students will not only know the main episodes in the history
of Jerusalem, but will also learn to recognize images of what each
epoch had left behind. In this sense the course will provide a
detailed virtual tour of the eternal city, including its main
symbols and sites: the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, the
Western Wall, the Tower of David, and many many others. Once we get
to know the city, we will also talk at some length about the place
of Jerusalem in the lives of millions upon millions across the globe
who have never set foot in it, and perhaps most importantly, in
contemporary global politics. We will understand how its fate is
intertwined with that of the century-long Arab-Israeli conflict, and
evaluate possible solutions for this global hot point.